


we do what we want to

by doctrpepper



Series: figure skating au [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: M/M, Please dont kill me, This is, and yes i will expand it. like i will expand all my aus. eventually, figure skating AU, im gay baby and i cant stop thinking about this au, im so sorry, this is basically projection at this point
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-25
Updated: 2019-06-25
Packaged: 2020-05-19 07:39:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19352485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doctrpepper/pseuds/doctrpepper
Summary: in which sokka works the skate shop and zuko makes mistakes with rental skates. but it all works out in the end.





	we do what we want to

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dickpuncher420](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dickpuncher420/gifts).



> PLEASE don't kill me i'm working on my other works i'm sorry
> 
> anyway. i sent dickpuncher420 an ask regarding hockey au zukka and went absolutely feral and started reading the existing hockey au that's out there and then i was like. i know a lot about figure skating. thought emoji. so this is for them thank you for getting me out of my writing slump and also avoid my homework and also that sicc hockey au art it made me go feral
> 
>  
> 
> [my accompanying song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EhhSOR7eNA)

“Hey, do you, uh, have skates here?”

Sokka looks up from behind the counter of the shop where he’s surrounded by rental skates and, currently, is cleaning off a pair of, you guessed it, skates. 

The guy on the other side of the counter is cute, and that’s the first thing he notices. Obviously. He’s average height, with soft-looking, shaggy dark hair and a real nasty burn scar covering one eye. He’s hunched over, looking kind of awkward more than anything. Well, not more than _anything_. Did he mention cute?

Sokka decides to take pity on him. “What size?”

The guy gives his size and Sokka grabs the right pair, and watches as the guy swipes a finger down the length of the blade.

Now, that’s interesting. Someone who knows how to check the sharpness. He doesn't get too many people like that renting skates. For obvious reasons. Sokka’s grateful he sharpened the skates this morning. 

The guy seems to like what he feels and wanders away to go put them on. Sokka shamelessly pokes his head out of the shop window to watch him head over to the stands.

“What size shoe was he?” Katara asks, materializing behind him out of thin air like she’s always doing.

Sokka absolutely does not jump and shirek aloud. Nope.

“What does it even matter?” he asks, only spluttering a little.

Katara sends him a wink. “Well, you know what they say about big -”

“Shut up!” Sokka slams a hand on her mouth covering her giggles and checks to see if the guy had heard any of that. It doesn’t seem like it. He’s pretty far down the bleachers, and turned completely away from him.

Katara pulls his hand away from her mouth. “Look, Sokka, if you want to be guard -”

“No, no,” Sokka shakes his head. “I’ll just - watch from here. I don’t wanna mess with the schedule or -”

Katara laughs. “Your loss.” She hikes her skates over her shoulder and bounces off to put them on.

Sokka settles himself on the counter and watches as the skaters make their way onto the ice. His sister shoots him a salute as she flips the music on, but his attention is focused on the mysterious guy. His skates are on, expertly tied, and he trails at the end of the line of families making their way carefully onto the ice. Finally, it’s his turn. The guy steps on as if he’s taking just another step onto solid ground, gliding effortlessly across the smooth surface. He starts into footwork right away, twisting and turning with practiced ease. The skates aren’t sharp enough for him to be doing some of the stuff he’s trying, but he does it anyway. Sokka is half impressed and half concerned for his well being. Also half turned on. Wait, that’s three halves.

Thankfully, the guy never tries any fancy jumps, but he does start to spin. Now that is hot. Sokka watches as he twists into a tight backspin - and then he’s bending backwards, _damn_. 

Sokka takes a deep breath.

The guy steps off after about half an hour and Sokka thinks for a second he was spotted watching, but the guy walks right past him towards the water fountain. Sokka waits for him to come back, but he never does, so he forlornly pulls himself off the counter and settles back into the shop.

He’s still thinking about the mysterious skater when Katara pops back in at the next break.

“Wait,” Katara says, frowning. “Did that dude steal our skates?”

Oh, fuck.

 

Sokka sees the guy at his own practice the very next day. He’s at the fancy rink in town where everyone hates him instead of his home rink, this time.

He’s stretching before his lesson like always when he sees the guy, talking with the gloomy girl, Mai, who’s always around here. Neither of them seem happy. 

Sokka doesn’t usually like conflict, but this is a matter of principle.

He marches right between them, heedless of the fact he’s wearing only socks and one of his pant legs is rolled halfway up his leg, and jabs a finger in the guy’s face. 

“You _stole_ my _skates_!” he yells. 

“I - I didn’t!” the guy tries to defend himself. “I left them by the snack counter, I -”

Sokka frowns. “Why didn’t you bring them back like you’re supposed to?”

The guy goes completely red. “I - uh -” 

Mai huffs out a laugh. Or what passes for a laugh, in Mai language. It's really just a puff of air.

Sokka is about to say something more, but he spots Piandao waving him over. Lesson time. As he walks away he jabs his two fingers at his eyes, and swings them to point at the guy, the universal sign for ‘I’m watching you.’

The guy doesn’t come on the ice while he’s practicing, and isn’t in the lobby when he comes out again. Mai’s gone, too, so he can’t even ask her about him, since she clearly knew him.

When Sokka gets back to his home rink, he heads over to the snack counter. Aang, smiling and with absolutely no comment about how weird this whole thing was, hands him the skates that had been left there the day before. Sokka goes to sleep that night trying to be angry, but all he can think about is how the guy had moved on the ice. How graceful he'd been. How powerful his strokes were. How steady his arms. How clean his turns. 

 

Sokka is tying his skates up to be guard when he sees the guy for the third time. 

He’s at the counter, and from what he can see, the guy’s being chewed out by Katara, likely about the skate thing. He looks appropriately chastened. 

When he’s finished getting ready, Sokka takes a deep breath and gets up to walk over to where the guy is now tying up the skates Katara had, clearly grudgingly, let him rent. He sticks out a hand. 

“Hi, I’m Sokka.”

The guy looks up, clearly surprised. Sokka hadn’t noticed it before, in his anger, but he’s even more handsome up close. His jaw is sharp and his eyes are such a beautiful amber color. 

“Um - Zuko.” Zuko takes a second before he jolts into realization and takes Sokka’s hand. “I’m sorry I fucked up last time - with the skates -” His whole face is suddenly crimson, scarred and unscarred side both a deep red.

“No biggie,” Sokka says, suddenly over it. 

Zuko shifts awkwardly, leaning down to keep tying his skates.

Sokka gives him a wave. “See you on the ice!”

 

Sokka can’t watch Zuko the whole time this time around. There’s a lot of kids out today, so he spends most of his time trying unsuccessfully to stop them from playing tag and picking them up when they fall. Zuko keeps up a similar routine from before, spinning and using his edges way too much for someone on rentals. This time, they seem even less sharp than that last pair, and Sokka finds himself gradually circling closer to Zuko, letting the kids run the rampages they want in favor of keeping an eye on the guy.

He’s lucky to be nearby when it happens. Zuko hits an edge too hard, and the blade slips out from under him, sending him lilting sideways. Sokka takes one big pump and suddenly he’s next to him, catching him right in his arms.

Zuko looks up, directly into his eyes. First surprise, then confusion. And then a slow smile spreads across his face. “Thanks,” he says.

“No problem,” says Sokka, because it absolutely is not. They continue to stare into each others eyes. 

Sokka’s jolted out of the moment by the sound of a kid colliding face first into a wall. “I gotta -” he jerks a hand at the mess, helping Zuko right himself.

Zuko’s still smiling softly. “No, no, I get it.”

“But,” Sokka says, smiling wide. “I’m off at the next zamboni break.”

Zuko seems to perk up. “I usually get coffee after I practice.”

Sokka sends a wink behind him as he readies himself to skate away. “It’s a date.”

**Author's Note:**

> i want to expand this verse and make it more gay and also mildly project my entire high school experience ? anyway. figure skating is a scam but. it's cute........
> 
> not to plug but [writing blog](https://pishuu.tumblr.com/) [main](https://doctrpepper.tumblr.com/) and! all new! [atla specific blog](https://kiyosji.tumblr.com/)
> 
> i will write more of this and that is a threat


End file.
